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Sept 1, 2015 13:45:59 GMT
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Thanks for the reply mate, it was the "bucket full of filler" bit I was dreading. Hate filler and it's in a nasty area of compound curves.
I guess if I could get a replacement quarter let in for a few hundred quid I'd rather do that and home-spray it matt, but am struggling to imagine it looking good enough to warrant a paint job after being filled back to shape.
Needless to say I'm thoroughly out of love with the car at the moment, and considering whether to break it instead of finishing it.
Probably best to move it on for either the easiest sale or the most amount of money for a given amount of hassle, which realistically is swapping off the turbo, coilovers, dash, flocked bits etc and selling as a bashed complete car, or breaking the lot.
To break it I'll need to get the garage built, and itll be a few weeks til the driveway is done and the builders have gone and taken their stuff out of the garage. So no rush quite yet.
Got my eye on Japanese auctions at the moment for something to really kickstart my mojo but will need cash from the mazda to make that happen. So decision time coming soon... ish...
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Sept 1, 2015 16:36:52 GMT
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On the grand scheme of body repairs that is no big deal. Use a stud gun to pull it close to shape and just fill the rest. If the stud gun is out of reach, MIG weld nail heads to the panel and use a vicegrip attached to a length of chain attached to a hammer to yank the dent out. I combine the stud gun with a shrinking disc for best results if I am going for a low filler repair. I would not worry too much about a bit of filler the car is solid and it wont make any difference once painted. Doing a quarter panel on a Miata is a royal pain. LOTS of spot-welds to cut. I took one apart spot-weld by spot-weld and the quarters were one of the hardest parts to remove. You might instictivley not like the filler , but even with the filler, a dent-pull is going to be the best repair because it does not mess with any of the factory rust proofing on the inside of the panel. A lot of coatings and sealers went into the factory assembly, and cutting and welding will affect this. Consider that there is no way to get at the back of a weld seam to rustproof it, and realizing that a weld seam is a rust point, you are better to leave the cavity sealed if you can. If anyone needs any pictures of how a Miata comes apart just ask!
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Sept 20, 2015 9:08:19 GMT
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Just seen this.
Thanks very much for taking the time to post those pics. Really helpful. Tells me there's no way I'm getting to the back of that panel!
My garage is done, driveway paved, but landscaping still to do, so still a couple of weeks away from having the garage floor painted and all my shelves and tools installed - but when they are, I'll have a go at pulling the worst of the dent out.
I guess a repair quarter is easy enough to have cut from a scrap car with a bit to spare, and therefore be able to separate the panel off in one piece, but getting at all the spot welds on my car would be hard. So that's definitely route 3 (1 being pull out and fill, 2 being get someone else to pull out and fill!).
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Sept 20, 2015 20:23:11 GMT
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Don't be scared of filler. Good quality filler applied on a decent epoxy base coat is a throughly modern way to fix things and last. No one will know or care.
It really really sucks that someone can back into your car and not own up! silly-billies. But you'll sort it. I only just found this thread and have really enjoyed reading it. Like most on here I fancy an mx5 too. Always amazed by the handling when I drive them (although hopping out of a viva into anything sporty will do that..)
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Sept 21, 2015 12:16:50 GMT
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Still love the mx5 handling, more than anything I love how you feel connected to the road in them. Something that old cars are brilliant for (new stuff bores me to tears on that front). I'd always tell anyone to go get one, they're cheap, don't break much, are cheap to fix, and just plain good fun. Makes me want to keep this... but... I've pressed the button on something else, something I've wanted for most of my life, so it's going to have to go. I might repair it first, i might sell it as it sits, not sure. Re filler - I'm ok with filler in a car, just not with me doing it! I know my limits! Last time I had a bash with the bog, it was a simple shallow repair on a straight sill section and it took me 5 or 6 goes to get it right. It doesn't agree with me ? early days to know whether it's going to be repaired before sale but if I give it a go, I'll update on here. Glad some folk have enjoyed reading anyway, that's nice for anyone to hear so thanks for the kind words and help, to all that commented.
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Sept 29, 2015 19:50:25 GMT
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Well, it's up for sale. Hopefully someone will want it for trackday / drift, or can paint it, as that's all it really needs now. Next car coming, which warrants a shiny new thread but I'll just leave this here...
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